Well, since it has been so long since I have posted, I figured it is about time for an update. I went scuba diving over the weekend. I went to Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA. It was a pretty good trip. I ended up not going on the second day because there were too many people. My friend and I are not comfortable enough with our skills to dive around 100 other people. I can’t wait till I can afford all my own gear, then I will be able to dive pretty much anywhere. If anyone has suggestions for some good, affordable gear, let me know in the comments!

So, I just signed up for 31 Days to Build a Better Blog on ProBlogger.net. So hopefully over the next month I will become a master of the blogosphere, so to speak! What the program does is that each day you recieve an e-mail with a task for the day and and some information to help you get started in the right direction to complete that task. The point of the program is to allow you to learn 31 things about blogging that you can use to build a better blog. The confirmation e-mail I got said the program started on April 6th, so I don’t even know if I’m going to get any e-mails from it. I’m hoping for the best, though, because I’m having a hard time coming up with ideas to blog about.

Just wanted to write up a quick review for my favorite windows mobile twitter app, PockeTwit. I’ve tried several twitter apps and PockeTwit is the only one that I’ve found that does everything I want. The first thing that I liked about PockeTwit is the user interface. My new tweets show up on the main page in a list with kinetic scrolling. Also, to get to the menu it just takes a swipe of your finger. From left to right will bring up the “Global” menu. This is like the main menu. It has options to refresh your friend TimeLine, settings, post a tweet, and some other useful options. If you swipe your finger from right to left it brings up the “Specific” menu. This menu has options for whatever user you currently have selected in your TimeLine. This includes responding (@someone), quoting, sending an e-mail, making a favorite, viewing that person’s TimeLine, viewing their profile, stop following them, and move or copy them to a group. Another thing that I like with PockeTwit is the integration with other services. You can upload a picture, shorten an URL, or set your location via GPS all from the Post Update screen. The integration also goes the other direction. To view a picture that is uploaded to any of the supported sites, all you have to do is click on the link in the tweet. It pops up in its own windows, no browser is needed. The final standout feature for me is Groups. PockeTwit allows you to put certain people into different groups. This is great if you follow a lot of people, but have a certain group of people whose tweets you don’t want to get lost in your main Friends TimeLine. All you have to do is add them to a group, then view that group’s TimeLine. The only tweets that show up are tweets from users in that group. So, as you can see, PockeTwit offers some great features. The only problem I have with PockeTwit is that I find it hard to click a link. It usually takes me a few tries before the picture shows up or Opera opens. Other than that this is a great program. Give it a try and see what you think.

Another good twitter app is Twikini. It is still in beta but it is already a really good twitter app. It isn’t quite as polished as PockeTwit, but it seems like it is on its way to being one of the best Windows Mobile twitter apps.

If you have any favorite Twitter clients. Let me know in the comments.

This is eventually going to be a checklist of things that you should never leave home without when geocaching. I know there are probably thousands of these floating around on the Internet, but I recently had an “adventure” where I wasn’t fully prepared, so I guess one more list won’t hurt. First, a little back story. I got done work early last Wednesday and didn’t have school so I decided to give one of my friends a call to see if he wanted to go out caching. He agreed so we met at my house and decided which cache we were going to attempt. The cache we finally decided on was a fairly difficult one. It said right in the description “not for geo-weenies”, but we figured we would try it anyway. It is almost a 2 mile walk to where the cache is located. It is also very thick and right near a swamp. We finally get to ground zero and it is so thick that my GPSr (phone) starts to lose signal and send us in circles. Eventually we decided that it was almost dark and we should start heading out. The only problem was that none of us knew which way was out. Since we had no GPS signal we ended up wandering around in circles in the swamp for a few hours. The only reason we even got out is because the stars came out and we used the big dipper to guide us in a straight line. Alright, that’s the story now here is the list.

A knowledge of the area where you will be caching (Geocaching.com forums are good for this)

A GPSr that is capable of operating correctly even in heavy cover

A compass

A flashlight

A cell phone for emergencies

Bottled water or a hydration pack

Bug spray (in the spring and summer)

Blaze orange clothing (during hunting season)

Plenty of spare batteries

A small first aid kit

Some other things that aren’t quite necessary, but would be recommended are a camera, a walking stick (useful to poke into holes in case there is an animal in it), and some swag to trade in the caches. Also, if you are going after a cache that is remote or there is a chance that you might have to spend the night, make sure that you bring everything needed to camp safely and comfortably.

If anyone has any recommendations that I missed, please add them in the comments.

Just wanted to pop in and let “everyone” (read the 2 people that viewed my blog since last week) know that I haven’t posted in a while because there really isn’t anything I can think of to write. Also, I just started at a new school so I’m kind of adjusting to that. So, anyone have a good topic to write about?

So apparently there is a bill, S. 802, that will allow limited bow hunting on Sundays in New Jersey. The added day would add a total of 13 extra days to the season and would only be allowed on private property and state Wildlife Management Areas. There are several valid and persuasive arguments on both sides of this issue. On the pro-Sunday side, it is argued that the extra days will provide more money to the Division of Fish and Wildlife, that the extra day will attract more people to the sport because of the extra weekend day, and that the extra days will help control over-population of deer.(AmmoLand.com) However, on the other side of the issue is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Their two major arguments are that there is no reason to lift the Sunday ban. It has been in place since colonial times, so why change it now? Also, they argue that people who enjoy other outdoor sports look forward to Sundays as a “safe” day to go into the woods. (HSUS)

So,what do I think of all this. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, I would have to agree with both sides. I have hunted since i was old enough to get a license. I’ve never had an issue with not being able to hunt on Sundays. Of course there were scheduling conflicts, but I still had an adequate amount of time to hunt. However, now that I am beginning to work more while also attending school, it is becoming more of a problem. There are many weeks where Saturday is the only day that I am able to hunt. In the same sense though, I enjoy other activities that involve going into the woods (paintball, geocaching, etc). I look forward to Sundays as the one day of the week that, during hunting season, I can venture into the woods without worrying if I might get shot at. Even though the issue is bow hunting, which is less dangerous than firearms hunting, it may set a precedence that will allow firearms hunting on Sundays, which with I would have to disagree. I think that a fair compromise between both sides would be to only allow bow hunting on Sundays on private property. That would allow some hunters to hunt on Sundays while keeping the Wildlife Management Areas safe for other types of outdoor activities.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments or the poll.

Update: Bow hunting is now officially allowed in NJ on Sundays. For better or worse.

In keeping with the topic of geocaching, I present my new Gotta-Have-It. First, a little back story. My Omnia has turned out to be a good geocaching tool. It does have one enormous drawback though…battery life! With the GPS active and one or more caching apps running I’ll be lucky to get more than two hours out of the battery. This has led me on a hunt to find a GPS unit that will give me the usability of my phone with a longer battery life. One of my favorite things about using my phone is the availability of Google Maps. I very quickly found out that looking at an aerial view of the surrounding area makes it very easy to see where I am in relation to the cache. So i definitely want the ability to view aerial maps in a GPS. The GPS I finally decided on, after much research, is the Delorme PN-40. From what I have read, the only downside to this unit is the small screen and a battery life that is on the lower end of acceptable ranges for a GPS unit. Neither of those things are an issue to me. The screen seems to be of adequate size to display what is needed. The battery life is rated at 14 hours, which is on the lower end for GPS units, but it is still way better than the battery life I am getting from my phone. It also takes AA batteries, which are a lot cheaper to buy than an extended life Omnia battery. I found this unit for $330 on Amazon. Now the hard part is to find the money.🙂

Well, I have recently taken up the sport of geocaching. I only have 2 finds under my belt, but it has been great so far. I would have started earlier, but I have never had a GPS to be able to do it. Recently, I upgraded my cell phone to the Samsung Omnia on Verizon. It has turned out to be a great phone. At first the GPS was locked in to only use VZ Navigator, but recently it has become possible to unlock the GPS so it can be used with any number of programs. This is what brought about the geocaching bug. To learn more about geocaching visit Geocaching.com or the Geocaching Checklist.